2005 Topps Baseball Forum

I got this factory set for Christmas.  Over the last two nights, I put all the cards in an album.  I've collected most of my life, since 1981, with a six year break that included this year 2005, and I had never put a large complete set in an album before, ever.  Some 100-card sets, but never anything close to this size.  It was a lot of fun.  I see why people like to collect sets.  Even though I didn't "build" this one, there was something about it that I really enjoyed.  I love that there were no SPs, no VARs, no errors.  Very straightforward.  Of course missing card 7, the Mantle spot, and I will look to acquire the 2006 Mantle Collection replacement card online to fill the hole I left on the first page.  A really gratifying experience that helped reaffirm my faith in the hobby.

I bought a few complete sets back in the day but never appreciated the cards the way I do when busting packs, trading, or buying on eBay. There is always something special about putting a near complete set in an album and then working on it over the years to fill those 60 or so empty plastic pockets. It’s sort of sad when it’s complete and you know you won’t be thumbing thru those pages as much as you used too.

I've always liked the 2005 design. It was much different than years before and the years after that release. I didn't get much of the main Topps set that year, but I did get quite a bit of the Chrome and Chrome Update set that year. As for the "missing" #7 card, I didn't know that Topps actually made card #7 for that set (then or afterwards). I thought they just held out of making a #7 card for many years b/c of Mantle, kinda like no team uses Jackie Robinson's uniform number except on special occassions.

I'm glad you enjoyed paging the set though! Now you can flip through it as much as you want to without having to actually touch the cards and possibly damage them. I'm not a set collector in most cases/circumstances, but I've paged at least a dozen sets in the past few months. With them ranging from a 20-card set to a 300-card set, it's been interesting looking at (and reading) the cards as I put them into pages.

Yeah guys, I think I've decided on 70% as the magic number for when I start putting a set in pages.  Whatever number it is that the site puts it on my Nearly Complete list. Maybe its 75 or 80.  So. I'll experience the fun of adding to it that Randy described.  And I agree Spaz that it's more fun to flip through the pages, and the cards seem safe there. The factory sets were a Christmas gift my dad bought me, and he picked the years I lived in California because he knew I quit collecting then.  I've started the orange set in pages, and I have the blue one plus one other to work with too. I actually like the fact that Topps factory sets are not packed sequentially in the box.  Adds to the fun.  I'm really excited about doing my first big basketball and football sets.  Wrestling sets rarely exceed 200 cards so I already have a lot of those started in albums..  I think my 2020 card project will somehow involve sets from the 1990s.  I think I know what it will be but havent decided for sure.

nice thread,  thanks for sharing.

Yup, you've encountered what I look forward to every year. I build vintage sets the old fashioned way, and I love it. But each year for since about 1984, I just buy the factory set whever it comes out -- tough to wait until August -- and then I go through it. I don't put them sequentially. I sort them by team. And within the team, I have order I like, too. And I look at every. single. card. Front and back. And I read every word. And then I put them in the binder. It takes many, many hours. And I love it. And there are no short prints or variations or other stuff worry about. Just all the cards. And lately, I also get the five super special rookie card pack with the factory set, which I sell for about 1/3 of what the whole set cost me. It's great fun.

And other sets I build, I keep in numerical order in a binder until they're complete. Then I take them all out, sort by team, etc....And I love it.

And yes, there's the slight sadness that the set won't be looked at as much, but that's why I go through the whole collection every three to five years, which I suspect I'll start doing again in May or June.

Enjoy collecting -- whatever it is, whether it's on this database or not, whether it's a card or a cap or a magnet or whatever. Just have fun, damn it.

v3

Oh, Spaz, in 2006, they inserted Mantle cards of every design from 1996-2005 in regular Topps packs.  Those were the 10 years they didnt have him under contract, but left a hole in the set.   They lost him again later, but I hope those holes also get filled eventually. Now they have unretired the number, which was a good idea.

I didn't know about that. I didn't buy many cards that year. My work schedule was crazy most of that year. I spent the first half going back and forth between home and Mississippi doing construction work after Hurricane Katrina. I didn't really have ways for protecting any cards I could find down there and I was only home for maybe a week each month or so. So I just didn't buy many cards during that time. The last half of the year was spent trying to regain hours at the job I left so that I could go to MS. So I couldn't really afford cards then. There isn't a single 2006 set that pops out in my head in any sport, so that shows that I didn't buy much at all. Oh, there is ONE set - the 2006 WizKids RaceDay CRG set. I found packs of those every time I went into the BigK (KMart) down in MS for supplies and bought some each time. Since they are plastic cards, they were easier to transport home without extra protection. That was also probably the first set I added to the database after I joined here.